


While The Tide Falls

by saveusall



Category: Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Genre: Alternate Beach Scene, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 22:10:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4804073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saveusall/pseuds/saveusall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack seemed surprised by that question. It wasn’t like Ralph to express his interest. It had always been Jack who skirted around Ralph like he was the sun, but they encountered conflicts more often than not. Naturally, their ‘tribes’ thought they hated each other.</p><p>They didn’t.</p><p> </p><p>(oneshot.<br/>title from "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls.")</p>
            </blockquote>





	While The Tide Falls

"Piggy. What are we going to do?"

"Just have to get on without 'em."

"Butthe fire."

He frowned at the black and white mess in which lay the unburnt ends of branches. He tried to formulate.

"I'm scared."

He saw Piggy look up; and blundered on.

"Not of the beast. I mean I'm scared of that too. But nobody else understands about the fire. If someone threw you a rope when you were drowning. If a doctor said take this because if you don't take it you'll dieyou would, wouldn't you? I mean?"

"'Course I would."

"Can't they see? Can't they understand? Without the smoke signal we'll die here? Look at that!"

A wave of heated air trembled above the ashes but without a trace of smoke.

"We can't keep one fire going. And they don't care. And what's more" He looked intensely into Piggy's streaming face.

"What's more, _I_ don't sometimes. Supposing I got like the othersnot caring. What 'ud become of us?"

Piggy took off his glasses, deeply troubled.

"I dunno, Ralph. We just got to go on, that's all. That's what grown-ups would do."

Ralph, having begun the business of unburdening himself, continued.

“Piggy, what’s wrong?”

Piggy looked at him in astonishment.

“Do you mean the-“

“No, not it . . . I mean . . . what makes things break up like they do?”

Piggy rubbed his glasses slowly and thought. When he understood how far Ralph had gone toward accepting him he flushed pinkly with pride.

“I dunno, Ralph. I expect it’s him.”

_“Jack?”_

“Jack.” A taboo was evolving round that word too. Ralph nodded solemnly.

 _“Yes,”_ he said, “I suppose it must be.”

The forest near them burst into uproar. Demonic figures with faces of white and red and green rushed out howling, so that the littluns fled screaming. Out of the corner of his eyes, Ralph saw Piggy running. Two figures rushed at the fire and he prepared to defend himself but they grabbed half-burnt branches and raced away along the beach. The three others stood still, watching Ralph; and he saw that the tallest of them, stark naked save for the paint and a belt, was Jack.

Ralph held his breath back and spoke.

“Well?”

In that moment, the unthinkable happened. Jack’s perpetual mask of confidence faltered.

“I, uh-“

The two little boys stood side-by-side in front of Jack, holding spears. They very looked alike and Ralph noticed them nudging each other.

“The chief has spoken.”

Ralph caught sight of Jack’s eyes widening and he kicked one of them in the shin.

“No he hasn’t! I haven’t said a bloody word! You little-“

Ralph attempted the stifle his giggles.

The boys ran away with Piggy tailing right behind, escaping the tension into the musky trees as Jack turned his head back to Ralph and cleared his throat awkwardly. Then, he stood taller and puffed out his bony chest as much as he could, decorated with shadows of his countless ribs formed when as sunlight casted down on the golden-boy just right. Jack's bones grow more and more obvious the longer he stayed on the island, a sign of malnourishment that, to Ralph, in now way hindered the boy's beauty. 

Jack let out a breath and Ralph’s eyes trickled down from his face to his torso. The belt hanging loosely from his waist was riding up a little now and, _oh._

“Oh.”

He let his eyes stay there for a beat too long then forced himself jolt his head back up to meet those wonderfully carved eyes he unfortunately has the tendency to get lost in.

Jack was hard. Like, erect. Painfully.

And well, Ralph was supposed to hate him, not be turned on.

Jack’s scruffy yet melodious voice overpowered the waves crashing onto the shore behind Ralph.

“My hunters and I are having a feast. Tonight. At the cliff. You are welcome to join, if you’re not too scar-“

“I get to see _you_? _Later?_ ”

Jack seemed surprised by that question. It wasn’t like Ralph to express his interest. It had always been Jack who skirted around Ralph like he was the sun, but they encountered conflicts more often than not. Naturally, their ‘tribes’ thought they hated each other.

They didn’t.

“Uh, yeah. I guess, if y-“

“With all your friends around?”

“I-“

“Can’t you just, stay with me now? See each other now?”

And God, Ralph swore he saw Jack’s dick twitch.

“But, my hunters and I- uh- tonight we-“

Ralph raised his eyebrows a little in amusement.

“Bloody hell, you can’t just say things like that! I didn’t even know you still wanted it-“

“It?”

_“Me.”_

For the first time in a long while, Ralph genuinely smiled as looked straight into Jack’s eyes. He lifted an eyebrow, as if to say ‘well?’

Jack rolled his eyes and lept onto Ralph like the savage he was, rolling them around the sand until they reached the cover of the tent.

“Shit- nugh- be careful I just- ugh- set this up”

Jack laughed and injected.

“Can’t let them see us,”

And then there was kissing and Jack smelt like dirt and sand and leaves and _Jack._

“This is so wrong, you know?”

“I don’t care right now. I really don’t”

They rolled across the floor of the tent until Jack was on top, peppering kisses onto every inch of skin he could find on Ralph’s face- his eyelids and forehead and just below his ear.

“God. We could live here alone, _y’know_? Don’t have to go back.”

Ralph giggled at the thought of that. _Paradise._

“I know, but, that means we would have to kill all the others, _huh?”_

Jack pauses to think about it.

“Hey, don’t even think about it, they’re not the same as those pigs in the trees.”

“Right, sorry.” Jack lets out, barely audible.

“Are you _really_?”

“No.” There was no hesitation.

Pantinh, they eventually start to lay by each other, drawing little shapes on the wall of the tent with their dirty fingers. Ralph thinks he sees Jack draw a heart; and Jack thinks he sees Ralph draw a house.

“Don’t you have a pretty girl to crush on? Back home” Ralph whispers.

“Yeah, but there’s an even prettier guy I used to like,”

Ralph is silent. Jack doesn’t know if he’s said something wrong, or if someone as strong as Ralph is even able to feel things like jealousy.

_Is this jealousy?_

“What’s here then? Why do you wanna stay so bad?” Ralph says even quieter, if that’s possible.

“There’s you. And these feelings whenever I see you. Butterflies.”

“Yeah? What feelings?”

Jack flips his sweaty body over and presses himself against Ralph’s equally skinny frame. He feels a little sticky, but a lot like warmth and safety and home.

“Love, I think?”

There’s a beat of silence, and then.

“My mama and papa talk about love. They used to, at least. About love for me and each other and our family. I didn’t believe them. It felt like a job for them to keep repeating that word. It’s like, they said it because of what they would lose, apart from each other, and not for what they would gain. I don’t want a love like that,” Jack shrugs.

“You mean _straight_?”

Jack whacked Ralph on the arm and they burst out laughing. Their voices died down and Ralph carefully spoke.

“What _do_ you want?”

“You.”

And Ralph thinks that yeah, that’s good enough.

So he stays, even if it’s just until the night falls, when bright stars litter the sky and their hands don’t seem to let go of each other's.

It was always just them after all this time.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> tumblr; notyourfournipples


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